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More on neighborhood pet care
By: Caroline Reid
Description: Dogs are animals and animals are unpredictable.
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Posted by caroline
Tue Sep 6, 2005 09:51:00 PDT
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"Anonymous" is correct that dogs are not people.
That being obvious, dogs are animals. Animals are unpredictable (and so are humans sometimes).
My brother had a huge dog of mixed parentage who was in their family for many years. His grandchildren wrestled with the dog like many children play with big teddy bears.
One day the 2-year-old was leaving with his mother and Grandpa said, "Jonathan, go tell Bozo goodbye." Jonathan walked over to the dog and started to give him his usual hug. The dog turned on the 2-year-old and before anyone could get the child away, the dog had inflicted wounds on the child's face that required 100 stitches and several years of plastic surgery to repair and restore his face.
He is 20 now and still bears some scars from that attack, both external and internal. So does the rest of the family. They put the dog down and have never had another dog.
Reminders like this should put animal owners on alert. Love your pet, take care of your pet, obey the leash laws and enjoy your pet, but remember, you are co-existing with an animal, not another human member of the family who can get counseling and medical assistance when their tempers are out of control or their mental health declines.
On another note, I could not agree more with the letter writer who complained about cats "dumping" in his flowerbeds. I have found a solution, after trying many!
Every day for about a week sprinkle a product called Grants Dog and Cat Repellant around the outer edges of your flowerbeds.
You can get it at Lowe's or Home Depot.
First, of course, you will have to clean up the cat stuff, bag it and put it in your garbage. For good measure, throw a few rose clippings around the flowerbed.
It may sound mean to cat owners, but there is nothing more disgusting to a gardener than spending what was hoped to be a relaxing morning working in the flowerbed sorting out the weeds and the earth from cat poop.
After the first week of daily sprinkling, I "refresh" the repellant about once every two weeks. I also "refresh" the rose clippings occasionally. It has worked for me.
